The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center

A clinical trial using PVSRIPO in children is not currently open to enrollment. Our team is working on this approval process. It is not available through expanded access (compassionate use) at this time. We will post the approval via this BTC website and Clinical Trials.Gov when it is open to enrollment.

Breakthrough Therapy Designation opens doors to develop the most efficient clinical trials in collaboration with the FDA, to ultimately obtain approval. At this time, PVSRIPO is not approved for general clinical use.

If you have a primary brain or spinal cord tumor, and are interested in a consultation at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, please visit our referral page.

If you are interested in more information about another disease and/or clinical trial options at Duke University Medical Center, please visit dukecancerinstitute.org

Please note: We are currently receiving an increased volume of inquiries at this time and want to let you know we appreciate your calls and messages. We are committed to responding to each and every one and will respond as quickly as possible.Thank you.

Targeting Cancer with Genetically Engineered Poliovirus (PVS-RIPO)

Matthias Gromeier, MD

A Brief Background About PVS-RIPO.
PVS-RIPO is a genetically engineered poliovirus that is being investigated as a new anti-cancer agent at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke. The idea of targeting cancer with viruses has been around for at least 100 years. However, valid strategies of using ‘oncolytic’ (cancer-fighting) viruses emerged only recently. This is mostly due to technological advances in genetic engineering of viruses.

To work against cancers in patients, oncolytic viruses must target cancer cells for infection and they must kill them. At the same time, they must be safe. Accomplishing this is very difficult scientifically and only very few viruses are suitable as cancer-fighting agents in the clinic. We achieved this feat by genetic engineering to remove poliovirus’ inherent disease-causing ability (a piece of genetic code of a cold-causing rhinovirus was spliced into the poliovirus genome). PVS-RIPO naturally infects almost all cancer cells, because the receptor for poliovirus (which is used for cell entry) is abnormally present on most tumor cells. PVS-RIPO kills cancer cells, but not normal cells, because its ability to grow (and kill) depends on biochemical abnormalities only present in cancer cells. Safety testing in non-human primates and human patients has shown no nerve cell killing, no ability to cause poliomyelitis, and no ability of PVS-RIPO to change back to wild type poliovirus that can cause poliomyelitis.

Visit one of our research centers

If you have a primary brain or spinal cord tumor, and are interested in finding out about a consultation at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, please visit our referral page for more information about how to contact us.

If you do not have a primary brain or spinal cord tumor, but are interested in more information about another disease and/or clinical trial options at Duke University Medical Center, please contact the Duke Consultation and Referral Center at
1-888-ASK-DUKE (1-888-275-3853).

AACR Team Science Award

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) awarded the Eighth Annual AACR Team Science Award to the Duke University/Johns Hopkins University/National Cancer Institute (NCI) Malignant Brain Tumor Team at the AACR Annual Meeting 2014, held in San Diego, Calif., April 5-9.

The AACR Team Science Award recognizes an outstanding interdisciplinary research team for its innovative and meritorious scientific work that has advanced or will likely advance cancer research, detection, diagnosis, prevention or treatment.

The next Angels Among Us
5K Run and 3K Family Walk
will be held April 23, 2016.

"Surgery, radiation and chemo didn't stop the tumor, but an experimental treatment did." Read this article in the Washington Post by a patient who participated in the Poliovirus Vaccine Trial.

Immortality Gene Mutation Identifies Brain Tumors and Other Cancers. Newly identified mutations in a gene that makes cells immortal appear to play a pivotal role in three of the most common types of brain tumors, as well as cancers of the liver, tongue and urinary tract, according to research led by Duke Cancer Institute. Read more...